The Childrens Portion | Page 7

kingdom, I gave thanks to God that my lot
had been cast in this favored Age, and that the horrors through which
the Lord had to pass are behind us; and that we see Him now in the
story of the Gospels, as the Son of God, clothed with the glory of God,
seated on the throne of heaven and making all things work together for
good."
As the Prince was bringing his speech to a close, a distant rolling of
drums announced that one of his brothers had arrived at the gates of the
city. It was Goldmorrow. And in a little while he entered the hall,

embraced his father, and was telling the story of his travel.
"My companions and I," he said, "have been where the Golden Age of
my dreams is displayed. We have been in that far future where there is
to be neither ignorance nor poverty, neither sickness nor pain, and
where cruelty and oppression and war are to be no more. It is greater
than my dreams. It is greater than I have words to tell. It is greater than
I had eyes to see. We were not able to endure the sight of it. We felt
ourselves to be strangers in a strange land. The people we met looked
upon us as we look upon barbarians. Our hearts sickened. We said to
each other: 'It is too high, we cannot reach up to it.' The very blessings
we had come to see did not look to us like the blessings of which we
had dreamed.
"But our greatest trial was still to come. The Lord had come back to the
earth and was living among the people of that Age. We made our way
to the palace in which He lived. It was like no palace we had ever seen.
It was like great clouds piled up among the hills. We were present
when the doors were thrown open. We beheld Him coming forth. But
the vision of that glory smote our eyes like fire. We were not able to
gaze upon it. Our hearts failed within us. This was not the Christ we
had known. We shrank back from the light of that awful presence. We
fell on the ground before Him. 'God be merciful to us sinners,' we cried,
'we are not worthy to look upon thy face.' And when we could open our
eyes again the vision had passed.
"Then, O father! then, O friends beloved, I knew that I had sinned. In
that moment of my humiliation and shame I recalled a sight which I
had seen in the first days of my journey. I remembered some peasants
fleeing from a plague-stricken village, whom we had passed. I said to
myself, I say this day to you, we were that day at the gates of the real
Golden Age and we did not know it. We might that day have turned
aside to the help of these peasants, but we missed the golden chance
sent to us by God."
VI.
THE FINDER OF THE AGE.

When Goldmorrow had finished, a strain of the most heavenly music
was heard. It sounded as if it were coming toward the assembly hall
from the gates of the city. It was like the chanting of a choir of angels,
and the sounds rose and fell as they came near, as if they were blown
hither and thither by the evening wind. In a little while the singing was
at the doorway of the hall, and every eye was turned in that direction. A
procession of white-robed children entered first. Behind them came a
coffin, carried on men's shoulders, and covered with wreaths of flowers.
Then, holding the pall of the coffin, came in the Princess Faith, behind
her the attendants who had accompanied her brother and herself, and
last of all a long line of bare-headed peasants walking two and two. It
was the coffin of the Prince Goldenday. His strength had never come
back to him. He had laid down his life for the poor villagers. Having
fulfilled his task in their desolate home, the brave young helper
sickened and died.
When this was known, the old King lifted up his voice and wept, and
the Princes, and the nobles, and all the people present joined in his
sorrow. Then it seemed to be found out, that the dead Prince had been
of the three brothers the most beloved. Then, when the weeping had
continued for a long time, the Princess Faith stepped forward, and in
few words told the story of the year. Then silence, only broken by
bursts of sorrow, fell upon all. And then the Councillor rose up from
his seat at the right hand of the King, and said: